Press Release: Puget Systems Refreshes Obsidian Workstation

Puget Systems partners with Intel, ASUS, Kingston and Fractal Design to take reliability to the next level with its all new Obisidan workstation

SEATTLE, WA - Puget Systems (www.pugetsystems.com), a boutique integrator of custom PC systems for enthusiasts, gamers, consumers and SMB markets, today announced a complete refresh in the technology used to build its highly reliable Obsidian workstation.

"Puget Systems already has an excellent reputation for building high quality, highly reliable PCs" said Jon Bach, president of Puget Systems. "This refresh to Obsidian is the result of many years of testing and data collection. We have hard evidence of what it takes to build a highly reliable workstation." The all new Obsidian PC is the embodiment of Puget Systems' strict qualification and testing processes, choice of most reliable components, industry leading assembly and packaging techniques, and its use of thermal imaging to ensure extremely well cooled PCs that run cool and quiet.

Through years of detailed tracking of individual component failure rates, we are able to use hard data to select the most reliable components for Obsidian. Our measured component reliabilty rates are:

Puget Systems
Average

Obsidian
Components

Improvement

Motherboard

96%

98%

2x

CPU

99.3%

99.6%

1.75x

Ram

98.9%

99.8%

5.5x

Hard Drive

99.2%

99.3%

1.14x

Power Supply

98.4%

99.1%

1.77x

Video Card

96.4%

97.2%

1.29x

While the numbers may look incremental, the cumulative result is a dramatically more reliable system. One of the most dramatic improvements is found in the shift to ECC memory, which is error correcting and therefore many times more reliable. Memory errors can cause a wide variety of problems that are difficult to diagnose and often time consuming to repair, ranging from bluescreens to data corruption. "With PCs as reliable as we make, we have to start to think differently to continue to innovate." continued Jon Bach. "We are looking beyond the numbers now, and are focusing on removing any remaining issues, no matter how unlikely, that can have large hassle and downtime impact on our clients."

The new Obisidan platform is based on the ASUS workstation series of motherboard, which is designed for ultimate reliability and quality through 24-hour non-stop operation. "The versatility and reliability of the P8C WS motherboard works hand-in-hand with the positioning of the Obsidian workstation. We are excited to see the revamped Obsidian join the family of Powered by ASUS systems that are offered by Puget Systems" added Timothy Lin, Director of Product Management at ASUS.

Locked Configuration

We understand that for business use, computers need to be as easy to manage as possible. One of the primary ways to do this is to make all the computers the same. This can be quite difficult to do when technology changes so quickly. Puget Systems has taken advantage of the ASUS CSM (corporate stable model) program, for long product lifecycles. Puget Systems builds on this program, by making the same commitment of availability for the Puget Obsidian. We will keep this system available as long as possible with no changes major enough to create operating system or disk imaging complications.

Advance System Replacements

In the unlikely event of a system failure, Puget Systems has set out to handle those situations with a very unique program. If an Obsidian PC encounters a problem that cannot easily be solved, we will quickly build and ship a replacement system. This is a program that is typically not feasible to implement by a custom computer provider, due to the large variation in the systems built. However, with the locked configuration of the Puget Systems Obsidian, this program becomes possible, and we are excited with the new levels of convenience and satisfaction it will bring to our clients.

Legacy Connections

The all new Obsidian workstation is also optimized for legacy connections, often needed to drive existing infrastructure investments such as CNC machines and digital printing presses. The Obsidian now supports a PCI expansion cards, COM (serial) port, LPT (parallel) port, TPM module, and firewire devices, while continuing to support cutting edge technology such as Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon CPUs, PCI-E 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, and USB 3.0.

Partnership with Fractal Design

Puget Systems is partnering with Fractal Design to bring this system into a fresh chassis -- the Fractal Design Define R4. This chassis provides great expansion room and excellent cooling, all while maintaining a very quiet noise level, as has come to be expected from computers manufactured by Puget Systems. "Partnering with Puget Systems was an easy choice for Fractal Design" said Paul Heimbuch, President of Fractal Design North America. "Puget Systems has developed a reputation for stringent quality control and has established rigorous qualification standards for the components they integrate into their systems and we are pleased to say that the Define R4 passed these tests with flying colors."

Availability

The new Obsidian platform is available immediately for configuration on the Puget Systems online configuration tool, with prices starting at just under $1200. Product is in stock, and customers ordering online will have their new systems built and shipped within 5-7 business days.

About Puget Systems

Puget Systems is a specialized integrator of custom personal computing systems meticulously designed to exceed the discriminating requirements of consumers, enthusiasts, gamers and businesses in multiple industries. Puget Systems combines industry-unique custom innovations, the highest quality leading-edge components with an unparalleled commitment to personal service and support. Founded in 2000, Puget Systems is headquartered in its new facility in Auburn, Washington. For more information, please visit www.pugetsystems.com

Hello Puget Systems. How is the Fractal Obsidian's air flow versus the Antec cases you were regularly using? Also, how loud do the case fans kit? Finally, does it block a decent amount of noise if someone is using noisier video cards? Thanks for the information.

The airflow in the R4 is pretty good, I would say better than the Antec chassis we use. The main advantage is the side fan on the non-windowed version. We do custom modding right now to mount side fans on the Antec chassis, but it is really, really nice to have something there already. Saves a lot of time, hassle, and money to our customers.

The chassis fans are actually really good. Our quiet kits are still a bit quieter, but unless you are going to a Serenity-type system, they should be more than quiet enough.

The noise blocking is a bit hard to say since we don't have hard dBa readings. Subjectively, I'de say that the Antec Performance series are still be better option for an ultra quiet system due to the really thick side panels, but the R4 isn't too far behind. Compared to the LanCool K7 that the R4 is replacing, it's all around a better cooling, much quieter, and much more "refined" chassis.

Fractal has been getting more popular among the many users who like clean, or more professional looking systems. I guess one could add some sound dampening material to the panel should it get too entirely loud. However, it's far easier and more feasible to purchase a video card that has a good quality VGA cooler. :) Thanks for the information.

Posted on 2012-09-12 22:45:56

Hurley40403

I like to no if Puget use other across the Glob to assemble their computer. Like how other bigger company's does. Example being Amazon, overstockCom ect.